A Tribute to Nicholas Courtney (1929-2011)

Doctor Who alumni Nicholas Courtney, the actor who portrayed the unflappable Brigadier for 40 years, sadly died yesterday after a long battle with cancer.

He was born William Nicholas Stone Courtney, on December 16th 1929, in Cairo, Egypt. The son of a British diplomat, he was educated in France and Kenya, and could speak French, Arabic, and Latin. After his National Service he decided not to pursue a career in the Army, and he joined the Weber Douglas Academy (where he won the Margaret Rutherford medal). He studied drama for 2 years, then worked in repertory theatre in Northampton, before moving to London. His first TV role came in 1957, and before becoming a regular cast member on Who, he appeared in The Saint, The Avengers, The Champions, and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

Courtney's long association with Who began in 1965 with the part of Space Security agent, Bret Vyon, opposite William Hartnell (director Douglas Camfield had originally considered Courtney for the role of King Richard in The Crusade). Camfield then cast him as Captain Knight in The Web of Fear (1968), but when David Langton gave up his role of Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, Courtney was given that part instead. Promoted to Brigadier, Lethbridge-Stewart returned in The Invasion (again opposite Patrick Troughton), and now headed the British section of the United Nations (later, Unified) Intelligence Taskforce. UNIT was devised to protect Earth from alien incursions, and it was for this recurring military role in the 'UNIT family' that Courtney is best known.

The Brigadier featured in 16 Jon Pertwee serials, including a dual role for Inferno, and he delivered the immortal "chap with wings, five rounds rapid" line in The Daemons. He returned for appearances opposite TV Doctors, Tom Baker (Robot, Terror of the Zygons); Peter Davison (Mawdryn Undead, The Five Doctors); Colin Baker (Dimensions in Time); and Sylvester McCoy (Battlefield, with Lethbridge-Stewart now married to Doris).

Courtney reprised the Brigadier for Big Finish, now working with Paul McGann in Minuet in Hell (2001); with David Tennant (here a UNIT Colonel) in The Wasting (2005); and with Unbound Doctor David Warner in Sympathy for the Devil, and Masters of War (2008).

Lethbridge-Stewart also featured in video drama Downtime (1995); BBC radio plays The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space; Death Comes to Time for BBCi (2001); and more recently in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Enemy of the Bane.

In 1997, Courtney became honorary president of DWAS: the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, and later wrote his autobiography, Five Rounds Rapid and Still Getting Away With It.

Outside Who, Courtney was seen in TV dramas Minder, All Creatures Great and Small, and The Bill; sitcoms Only Fools and Horses, Yes Prime Minister, and French Fields; on stage in The Rocky Horror Show (1995); and in films Bullseye (1990) and Incendiary (2008).

Courtney is survived by his second wife Karen, and his two children from his first marriage.

I had the pleasure of meeting Nicholas Courtney at a Doctor Who convention in Liverpool about 20 years ago, and he was a complete gentleman (his companion, JNT, was a surly sod though). He will be greatly missed by all in fandom.

UK Census 2011

Found this article on page 2 of today's 'The i'. Apparently, the response to the religion question in the last Census in 2001 resulted in over 390,000 followers of 'Jedi' after a huge internet campaign. The link to the TimeLord group is here: http://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=eea3296cfb2fadcdf2690680d0118b36&#!/group.php?gid=108373425862055, so join now!

Many thanks to Christian Cawley for publishing this story at http://www.kasterborous.com/2011/02/24/census-2011-gallifrey-rises/

Review of 'Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Story' Part 2

It is generally accepted by Ripperologists that the Whitechapel murderer was disturbed at Dutfield's Yard, and narrowly escaped (it has also been suggested that Stride is not a canonical victim). This view is supported here in part two, by examining Schwartz's eyewitness account, and it's coverage by The Star newspaper. The report highlighted his actual sighting of the attacker pushing Stride by the shoulders into the yard. The Ripper then fled and found his second victim of the night at Mitre Square in the City, and Catherine Eddowes was slain. The discovery of Eddowes' bloodied apron and the graffito at Goulston Street is now described as a missed opportunity by the police, by theorising that the killer could have been based in the Dorset Street vicinity.

No further attacks occured in October 1888, but George Lusk received the 'From Hell' letter with a grisly parcel: half of a human kidney (supposedly missing from Eddowes' body). Then in November (on the very day of Sir Charles Warren's resignation), the series culminated in the savage butchery of Mary Kelly, when the Ripper was free to kill indoors for the only time.

Press attention waned in the months after this final murder, but the police investigation continued, and some suspects were still surveilled, until the case was officially closed in 1892. Contemporary Ripper candidates included: Francis Tumblety, MJ Druitt, and Aaron Kosminski, and since then many more suspects, theories, and conspiracies have been posited.

NB. Two more experts appeared in part 2: Criminal psychiatrist Dr. Lars Davidsson, and Donald Swanson's grandson, Nevel Swanson. The Definitive Story is a Bulls Eye Lantern production for Five.

Review of 'Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Story' Part 1

This 2-part 'docu-drama' employs state-of-the-art CGI and actor recreations to take the viewer into the "slum landscape" of the Victorian East End of London, a virtual Ripper tour "shrouded in myth". The "most famous, most iconic serial killer in history" is investigated here by utilising the contemporary police reports, witness statements, maps, and photographs, to reconstruct Whitechapel itself, and is promoted as the "definitive story" of Jack the Ripper.

As with previous Ripper documentaries, many varied 'talking head' experts are featured: Ripperologists Richard Jones, Neil Sheldon, and Donald Rumbelow; internet moderator Robert Anderson; authors Gareth Williams and John Bennett; tour guide Lindsay Sivitar; police historian Neil Bell; and Bill Beadle of the Whitechapel Society.

Part one (broadcast January 11th on Five) starts with the (non-canonical) murders of Emma Smith (in April 1888) and Martha Tabram. With the killing of Polly Nichols at Bucks Row, the deaths were now connected by the newspapers. When Annie Chapman was slain at Hanbury Street, the discovery of a leather apron was seized upon by an angry press, which only fed anti-semitic tensions.

The programme states that the crimes were committed with "increased fury" by a "classic disorganised" killer, soon christened 'Jack the Ripper' when the Central News Agency received the 'Dear Boss' letter.

In the lead-up to Liz Stride's murder at Berner Street, Donald Swanson's account of the Israel Schwartz/'Lipski' incident is recreated, and the 'Double Event' is further explored in part 2, with Mary Kelly's slaying, and the inevitable study of the Ripper suspects.

The CGI reconstructions are basic, but effective, and add a new dimension (literally) to an oft-told story, and emphasise the importance of geography in crime fighting. The entire programme though is dogged by wooden 'am-dram' acting. The next installment is screened next Thursday, January 20th on Five.

Pet Shop Boys News

Tickets are now on sale for performances of The Most Incredible Thing, a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. This new ballet (choreographed by Javier De Fruto) has original music by Messrs Tennant and Lowe. The first run at Sadler's Wells in London is from March 17-26 2011. Follow this link http://http://www.sadlerswells.com/standalonevideo.php? for a video about the ballet's inception, and a music demo. A double CD produced by the PSB and Sven Helbig, and a world tour are planned for next year.

The Performing Rights Society have organised an auction of handwritten lyrics by some of the UK's best songwriters and composers, including Paul McCartney and Gary Barlow. All proceeds will go to the Teenage Cancer Trust, and Neil Tennant has written the lyrics to It's a Sin, Being Boring, and Your Funny Uncle, in a leather-bound notebook (pictured above), which will be sold at Bonham's in London this Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Boy's latest single, Together, only peaked at number 58 in the UK chart.

The Invasion Revisited

42 years after The Invasion was shown, Cybermen returned to London this week to publicise the new Doctor Who Experience, which opens at Olympia next February. Promoters recreated one of the programme's most famous sequences, when Cybus-men revisited St. Pauls.

Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol Preview

This week the BBC released the synopsis of this year's Christmas Special, written by Steven Moffat and loosely based on Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol (1843):

"Amy and Rory are trapped on a crashing spaceliner and the only way the Doctor can rescue them is to save the soul of a lonely old miser... But is Kazran Sardick, the richest man in Sardicktown, beyond redemption? And what is lurking in the fogs of Christmas Eve?"

The cast includes Sir Michael Gambon (famous for playing Philip Marlow in Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective (1986) and now mainly recognised from his role as Hogwarts Professor, Albus Dumbledore since 2004) as the older Kazran, and Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins in her first acting role, as Abigail.

Pooky Quesnal (recently seen in Accused with Christopher Eccleston) plays the Captain; Laurence Belcher (appeared with Arthur Darvill and Freema Ageyman in Little Dorrit) is the Young Kazran; Tim Plester is the Chief Servant; Stephen North (a series regular in ITV's London's Burning) is Older Benjamin; Micah Balfour (a regular on the last 5 years of The Bill) is the Co-Pilot; Danny Horn is the Middle Kazran; and Nick Malinowski plays Eric.

IMDB also lists Peter Bowles (known for the BBC sitcom, To the Manor Born), Leo Bill, Laura Rogers, and Bailey Pepper as cast members.

So what have we gleaned from the trailer?

On a stormy planet that looks Victorian-themed, its nearly Christmas, and its snowing. The story features Kazran at three different points in his life, and the Doctor seems to visit him like the ghosts who appear to Scrooge. We see the youngest Kazran discover Abigail, frozen in some kind of stasis. The 'middle' Kazran is then being observed through a circular window by the Doctor, who tells him "whatever happens tonight, remember, you brought it on yourself." Behind the Doctor, a huge shark-like fin glides past. Many years later, the Doctor makes a memorable entrance, Santa-style, emerging from the chimney into Old Kazran's big, empty house. He informs Kazran, "I'm the ghost of Christmas Past," and just like Scrooge, Kazran despises Christmas.

As for the TARDIS honey-mooners, Amy at first intriguingly remarks "Time can be rewritten..." and the old man replies "...People can't." Then Amy (here in her old police uniform) and Rory (dressed as a Roman centurion again), are seen on the bridge of a crashing spacecraft.

A Christmas Carol (again an hour long) is scheduled to be shown at 6pm, on BBC1 on Christmas Day. The DVD release is set for January 24th 2011, and the soundtrack CD is available next February.